From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The United StatesDeclaration of Independence was a document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and signed by representatives of the (then) 13 colonies in which the nascent United States declared itself independent of Great Britain. The Declaration was also a propaganda tool, in which the Americans tried to establish clear reasons for their rebellion that might persuade reluctant colonists to join them and establish their just cause to foreign governments that might lend them aid. The Declaration of Independence contains many of the fundamental principles of the US founding fathers which would later be codified in the United States Constitution.